488 HORSE-DEALING. 



sideration, it will appear, that such a definition 

 would be of little or no practical utility ; for scarcely 

 a seven-year-old in the kingdom could be fairly 

 said to answer to it. The most trifling splent, 

 or even a wart, no matter how small, or where 

 placed, are deviations from health, and would make 

 a horse unfit to be warranted, if such a definition 

 of the term ' sound' were to be adopted. It must 

 therefore be qualified in order to be useful, and that 

 the buyer and seller may be placed upon something 

 like an equal footing. This, however, is not so 

 easily done, for a horse is liable to several trifling 

 diseases, which do not in the least incapacitate 

 him ; and yet it is difiicult, I think I may almost 

 say impossible, to define soundness in such a way 

 as to admit those, without, at the same time, ad- 

 mitting others of greater consequence ; and, on the 

 other hand, it is as difiicult to define unsoundness, 

 so as to embrace all those diseases or faults which 

 deteriorate the animal, without likewise including 

 many that do not. Under such circumstances, a 

 middle course is the most advisable ; and though 

 there must be some outstanding points, yet they 

 are so seldom met with, that they may be left to 

 the decision of the lawyer or the veterinary sur- 

 geon, according to circumstances. It is evident, 

 however, that natural defects in the conformation, 

 temper, or action of the animal, must not be con- 

 sidered as unsoundness. There is difi'erence of 

 opinion and strife enough in horse-dealing already ; 

 and to introduce the doctrine, that a natural defect 

 is an unsoundness, would not diminish it. Nothing 



